Pelosi, Van Susteren Spar Over Obama as Jobs President

Reacting to President Obama’s call for new initiatives to resolve the country’s dire unemployment crisis in his State of the Union speech, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren that the president always has made job creation a priority. Van Susteren countered that Obama’s long-term plans can’t help those desperately seeking jobs now.

Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“President Obama was a job creator from day one,” Pelosi told Van Susteren late Tuesday. “Because of initiatives he took when he became president and his recovery package, and other federal action, 3.5 million jobs were either created or saved. So he has created more jobs . . . than were created in the eight years of the Bush administration. It is not enough. It is certainly not enough but he's on the right path.

“I think the president talked about winning the future in a way that creates jobs, that the education of our children, that innovation, recognizing that that begins in the classroom,” Pelosi continued. “Innovation for clean energy jobs for the 21st century. He talked about rebuilding America, our bridges — you know the infrastructure needs it.”

Van Susteren

Van Susteren noted that most of Obama’s plans for increased employment would take considerable time to implement.

“Those are grand ideas,” she said. “We are all in favor of getting jobs. But I'm curious: they seem long-term and there's a greater sense of urgency across America. What about the short term? I mean like jobs in February, March, April, because there are a lot of people that are concerned about the now.”